Radial menus

ABSTRACT

Some embodiments of the invention provide several novel techniques for manipulating radial menus in graphical user interfaces of an application. In some embodiments, radial menus include multiple selectable items arranged about an internal location (e.g., a center of the radial menu). The novel radial menu techniques of some embodiments include (i) non-uniform spacing of menu items, (ii) the use of shading or highlighting within a region associated with an item to indicate the present selectability of the item, and (iii) the use of radial gestures for opening sub-menus and the subsequent display of the sub-menu.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention is directed towards the presentation of menu or toolbaroptions in a graphical user interface. Specifically, the invention isdirected towards presenting these options in a radial form.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

User interfaces of computer applications often provide numerous commandsor user interface tools for a user to choose from. For instance, manyapplications include drop-down menus. Such menus often include lists ofcommands. There are standard commands such as opening a file, printing adocument, saving a document, etc., as well as more application-specificcommands such as inserting a page break (for a word-processingapplication), formatting cells (for a spreadsheet application), etc.

Such drop-down menus are often located at the top of a window in whichan application is running. Accessing drop-down menus via a cursorcontroller involves moving a cursor to the top of the window with thecursor control device, then moving along to the appropriate top levelmenu item, selecting a submenu (if necessary), etc. Using a cursor toselect items on a linear pull-down menu requires a user to move thecursor by a particular distance down the menu to reach the desired menuitem. This can require moving a cursor through a considerable distanceand with considerable precision required to reach the desired menu itemwithout going past it.

Radial menus can provide desired menu selections without thedifficulties inherent in drop-down menus. However, there is minimal useas of yet of radial menus in popular computing applications.Accordingly, there is a need for radial menus with improved featuresthat will make such menus more desirable for users.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Some embodiments of the invention provide several novel techniques formanipulating radial menus in graphical user interfaces of anapplication. In some embodiments, radial menus include multipleselectable items arranged about an internal location (e.g., a center ofthe radial menu). The novel radial menu techniques of some embodimentsinclude (i) non-uniform spacing of menu items, (ii) the use of shadingor highlighting within a region associated with an item to indicate thepresent selectability of the item, and (iii) the use of radial gesturesfor opening sub-menus and the subsequent display of the sub-menu.

As non-uniform arrangement of the selectable items about the internallocation is based on priorities assigned to the different selectableitems in some embodiments. Specifically, some embodiments vary thedistance between the menu items such that items with a higher priorityare further from their neighboring items than those with a lowerpriority. Some embodiments assign a range of angles to each menu item. Auser moving a cursor or touching a touchscreen within an angular regiondefined by the range of angles and then providing selection input willselect the menu item. Some such embodiments assign a larger range ofangles to higher priority items than to lower priority items. Variouscriteria may be used to determine the priorities of the different menuitems, such as the frequency of selection or expected frequency ofselection of the menu items.

Some embodiments display a highlight over a selectable region for a menuitem when the menu item is presently selectable. In some embodiments,the menu item is displayed as a distinct icon and the highlighted regionis larger than the displayed icon. The highlight, in some embodiments,is displayed as though a light is emanating from the center of theradial menu towards the displayed menu item. The area covered by thishighlight is the angular area defined by the range of angles assigned tothe particular menu item, or a portion of that angular area extending aparticular radial distance, in some embodiments. The area for aparticular item is highlighted when the cursor is over the area in someembodiments, as a user could select the item in that case by clicking amouse button, tapping a touchpad, etc.

In addition to mouse clicks or equivalent input, some embodiments enablegestural selection of menu items. A gestural selection, in someembodiments, is a rapid movement of the cursor in a particulardirection. Gestural selections, like click selections, cause a selectionof a particular menu item from the radial menu. The angle of thegesture, in some embodiments, determines the menu item selected. Whenthe menu item selected opens a sub-menu, some embodiments wait untilfurther input is received and display the sub-menu as a radial menu witha central location at the location of the cursor. This enablessubsequent rapid sweep gestures.

In some embodiments, the cursor referred to in the description above isan icon (e.g., an arrow) that is displayed on a screen. The icon iscontrolled by a user via a cursor control device (e.g., a mouse,trackpad, etc.) that the user interacts with in order to move the iconon the screen. The user also interacts with the cursor control device inorder to generate other inputs such as selections (e.g., by clicking ordouble-clicking a mouse button). In other embodiments, however, thecursor is not displayed and is defined as a location at which a user istouching the screen (i.e., when the radial menu is displayed on atouchscreen). Thus, the cursor moves as a user's finger (or other objecttouching the touchscreen) moves, though no icon is actually displayed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The novel features of the invention are set forth in the appendedclaims. However, for purpose of explanation, several embodiments of theinvention are set forth in the following figures.

FIG. 1 conceptually illustrates a possible set of selectable menu items.

FIG. 2 illustrates a radial menu having the eight selectable menu itemsof FIG. 1.

FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrate examples of highlights for different menu itemsof the radial menu of FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 illustrates a gestural selection of a menu item of a radial menuthat opens a submenu.

FIG. 6 illustrates the opening and display of a radial menu withselectable items arranged non-uniformly about a central location.

FIG. 7 conceptually illustrates a process of some embodiments fordisplaying a radial menu with the selectable items arrangednon-uniformly around a central location in a GUI.

FIG. 8 illustrates the assignment of angular regions to each menu itemin a radial menu according to some embodiments.

FIG. 9 illustrates a state diagram that reflects the various states andtransitions between those states for a GUI that includes the radialmenus of some embodiments.

FIGS. 10 and 11 illustrate the radial menu of FIG. 6 with a cursor overtwo different menu items so that the menu items are highlighted.

FIG. 12 illustrates the opening of a sub-menu in response to a selectionof a menu item from a primary menu according to some embodiments.

FIG. 13 illustrates the selection of an item from a radial menu and thesubsequent closing of the radial menu.

FIG. 14 illustrates a radial menu with four equally-spaced menu items.

FIG. 15 illustrates the radial menu of FIG. 14 and a gestural movementof a cursor starting at the center of the radial menu.

FIG. 16 illustrates the radial menu of FIG. 14 and a gestural movementof a cursor not starting at the center of the radial menu.

FIG. 17 conceptually illustrates a process of some embodiments fordisplaying radial menus and sub-menus and receiving selections from themenus.

FIG. 18 illustrates the opening of a radial menu due to a click inputand a subsequent sweep gesture to select a menu item.

FIG. 19 illustrates the result of the gestural selection of the menuitem in FIG. 18.

FIG. 20 illustrates the result of user movement to move the radialsub-menu to the cursor location and the subsequent gestural selection ofa menu item from the sub-menu.

FIG. 21 illustrates a computer desktop displaying various features of anoperating system, including the radial menus of some embodiments.

FIG. 22 illustrates a video-editing application that utilizes the radialmenus of some embodiments.

FIG. 23 illustrates a handheld device that is displaying a web browserusing the radial menus of some embodiments.

FIG. 24 conceptually illustrates the software architecture of anapplication of some embodiments for presenting radial menus.

FIG. 25 conceptually illustrates a process of some embodiments formanufacturing an application.

FIG. 26 conceptually illustrates a computer system with which someembodiments of the invention are illustrated.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In the following description, numerous details are set forth for purposeof explanation. However, one of ordinary skill in the art will realizethat the invention may be practiced without the use of these specificdetails. For instance, some portions of the application refer toexamples that receive input from a mouse. One of ordinary skill willrecognize that similar input could be received from other cursorcontrollers or even touchscreens without cursors as well.

Some embodiments of the invention provide several novel techniques formanipulating radial menus in graphical user interfaces (GUIs) of anapplication of a device. In some embodiments, radial menus includemultiple selectable items arranged about an internal location (e.g.,arranged completely or partially curvilinearly about the internallocation of the radial menu). The GUI in which the radial menus arepresented may be a GUI of an operating system, an application that runson top of an operating system, a stand-alone application, etc., on adevice (e.g., a computer, handheld device, etc.). The novel radial menutechniques of some embodiments include (i) non-uniform spacing of menuitems, (ii) the use of shading or highlighting within a regionassociated with an item to indicate the present selectability of theitem, and (iii) the use of radial gestures for opening sub-menus and thesubsequent display of the sub-menu.

Several high-level examples of these features will be described below byreference to FIGS. 2-5. These examples will be described by reference toone possible set of selectable menu items 100 that are conceptuallyillustrated in FIG. 1. FIG. 1 illustrates eight primary menu items ItemA-H (101-108). Each of the eight primary menu items is associated with acommand that (i) performs instructions (e.g., save a file, copy text,etc.), (ii) activates a tool (e.g., a video editing tool, drawing tool,etc.), or (iii) opens a sub-menu. Item F (106) is an example of a menuitem the selection of which opens a sub-menu with four items 111-114.

FIG. 2 illustrates a radial menu 200 having the eight selectable menuitems 101-108. These menu items are displayed in the radial menu asdistinct icons, all of which are at a radial distance R from the centrallocation of the menu. In radial menu 200, the menu items are displayedat unequal distances from each other. For instance, the distance 205between Item C (103) and Item G (107) is significantly larger than thedistance 210 between Item H (108) and Item A (101).

In some embodiments, the variation in distance between different menuitems is based on priorities assigned to the menu items. Specifically,some embodiments vary the distance between the menu items such that themenu items with higher priorities are further from neighboring menuitems than those with lower priorities. In some embodiments, each menuitem in the radial menu is assigned a particular range of angles, andthe displayed icon is located halfway between the bounds of itsparticular range. The higher a particular menu item's priority, thelarger the range of angles assigned to the particular menu item. Forinstance, Item B (102) has a higher priority than Item E (105), and thusis assigned a larger range of angles in radial menu 200.

Various criteria may be used to determine the priorities for thedifferent menu items. For instance, some embodiments use the frequencywith which a menu item is selected to assign the priorities of the menuitems. The more regularly selected menu items will have higherpriorities and will thus be assigned larger angular areas and bedisplayed further apart. As a result of using the selection frequenciesto determine priorities, the priorities may change over time, and thusthe display of the radial menu will change.

Although the menu items are displayed as distinct icons, someembodiments display a highlight over a selectable area for a menu itemthat is larger than the displayed icon when the menu item is presentlyselectable. In some embodiments, a particular menu item is presentlyselectable when the cursor is located over the particular menu item.FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrate examples of such highlights for different menuitems of radial menu 200. FIG. 3 illustrates a cursor 305 located overthe displayed icon for Item G (107). Because the cursor is located overItem G (107), this item is presently selectable and is thus highlighted.That is, the user could click a mouse button, tap a touchpad, etc. andselect Item G (107) with the cursor in its present location. Thehighlight 310 indicates the range of angles assigned to Item G (107),with the displayed icon located in the middle of the angular range. Insome embodiments, the highlight is displayed as a light emanating fromthe center of the radial menu, illuminating the presently selectablemenu item.

FIG. 4 illustrates radial menu 200 with the cursor 305 located withinthe angular area assigned to Item E (105). Although the cursor is notactually over the displayed icon, the menu item is neverthelesshighlighted by highlight 410. In some embodiments, a user can select amenu item from a radial menu by clicking anywhere within the angulararea assigned to that menu item. Thus, although cursor 305 is notlocated over the displayed icon for menu item 105, if the user clicks amouse button or provides equivalent selection input, Item E (105) willbe selected. In some embodiments, this angular area extends outward toinfinity, such that the cursor need not be near the radial menu for theuser to select a menu item.

In addition to mouse clicks or equivalent input, some embodiments allowgestural selection of menu items as well. A gestural selection, in someembodiments, is a rapid movement of the cursor in a particulardirection. Like click selections, gestural selections cause selection ofa particular menu item from the radial menu. FIG. 5 illustrates agestural selection of menu item 106, which opens a sub-menu, from aradial menu 500 that also includes menu items 101-108. FIG. 5illustrates two stages, a first stage 510 illustrating the gesturalselection, and a second stage 520 illustrating the opening of a sub-menu550.

Stage 510 illustrates radial menu 500. The eight menu items are allequally prioritized in radial menu 500, and thus equally spaced aroundthe center location. Stage 510 also illustrates the movement of cursor505 from the center of the menu, to location 515 between the center ofthe menu and the displayed icon for Item F (106), to location 525outside the displayed icon for Item F (106). The rapid movement ofcursor 505 in this direction is a gestural movement that causes theselection of Item F (106). In some embodiments, the item selected bysuch a gestural movement is dependent on the angle of the cursormovement. When the angle of the cursor movement falls within the rangeof angles assigned to a particular item, the particular item isselected. In stage 510, the angle of cursor movement is an angle that isassigned to menu item 106.

Stage 520 illustrates the result of selecting Item F (106) via gesturalselection. The selection of item 106 causes sub-menu 550 to open. Insome embodiments, as shown, the sub-menu opens as a radial menu centeredat the location of the cursor after a gestural selection. In someembodiments, the sub-menu is not displayed at this location untilselection input (e.g., a mouse click, tap of a touchpad, keystroke,etc.) is received from the user. Upon receiving this input, the sub-menuis displayed around the cursor such that the user can then easily selectan item from the sub-menu via gestural or other input.

While many of the examples above and below illustrate a cursor as anicon (e.g., an arrow) that is moved by a user via input from a cursorcontrol device such as a mouse, as is often the case with a number ofpopular computing systems, one of ordinary skill in the art willrecognize that the concept of a cursor is not limited to such examples.In some embodiments, for example, the cursor is not displayed and isdefined as a location at which a user is touching the screen (i.e., whenthe radial menu is displayed on a touchscreen). Thus, the cursor movesas a user's finger (or other object touching the touchscreen) moves,though no icon is actually displayed.

The above provided examples of a number of novel features of radialmenus. Several more detailed embodiments of the invention are describedin the sections below. Section I describes the assignment of prioritiesto menu items and the display of radial menus based on these priorities.Section II then describes the highlighting and selection of menu itemsin radial menus according to some embodiments. Section III follows thiswith description of gestural selections and opening sub-menus as aresult of gestural selection. Section IV illustrates various uses of theradial menus of some embodiment. Next, Section V describes the softwarearchitecture of an application that employs the radial menus of someembodiments, and Section VI describes a computer system that implementssome embodiments of the invention.

I. Display of Radial Menus

As described above, some embodiments of the invention provide radial GUIstructures such as radial menus that include multiple selectable itemsarranged about a central location. The selectable items, in someembodiments, are individual icons, as shown in FIGS. 1-5 above. That is,the selectable items are not contiguous slices of a circle or othershape. In some embodiments, these individual icons are arranged aroundthe central location according to a priority that is assigned to eachselectable item.

FIG. 6 illustrates the opening and display of such a radial menu withselectable items arranged non-uniformly about a central location. FIG. 6illustrates the opening and display of the radial menu 600 in fivestages, 610-650. Stage 610 illustrates the display of a singleselectable item, stage 620 illustrates the selection of the single item,stages 630 and 640 illustrate the opening of the radial menu in responseto this selection, and stage 650 illustrates the fully opened radialmenu.

The radial menu is displayed as part of different GUIs in differentembodiments. For instance, the radial menu could be part of the GUI ofan operating system, an application that runs on an operating system(e.g., a media-editing application, a word processing application, acomputer game, etc.), or a stand-alone application on a computer, ahandheld device (e.g., a cell phone, media player, etc.), or othercomputing device. While the example of FIG. 6 and other examples belowillustrate the radial menus displayed in front of an empty background,one of ordinary skill will recognize that in some embodiments the radialmenu items are displayed over other UI items when the radial menu isinvoked.

As noted, stage 610 illustrates the display of a single selectable item655. In some embodiments, the display of a radial menu is invoked by theselection of an initially-displayed single selectable item such as item655. Such an item is displayed permanently in the GUI of which theradial menu is a part in some embodiments. Some GUIs include multiple ofthese selectable items, the selection of each of which invokes adifferent radial menu. On the other hand, some GUIs only include onesuch selectable item.

In some embodiments, as is the case with item 655, the single selectableitem displayed permanently in the GUI is one of the selectable items ofthe radial menu. For instance, in some embodiments, the differentselectable items in the radial menu are various tools (e.g.,video-editing tools), only one of which can be active at a particulartime. Thus, the single selectable item displayed when the radial menu isnot invoked is the currently active tool (either the default tool or themost recently selected tool) in some embodiments.

Stage 610 also illustrates a cursor 615 over the selectable item 655.Stage 620 illustrates the selection of item 655 via a mouse click withthe cursor over the item. While the mouse click is illustratedconceptually by the text “(Click . . . )” in the GUI of stage 620,different embodiments illustrate the selection of an item for invocationof a radial menu in different ways, including doing nothing except foropening the radial menu. Other embodiments flash the selected item in adifferent color than its initial display. Some embodiments change thecolor of the selectable item when the cursor is initially over the item(e.g., at 610), to indicate that a click (or other selection input) willselect the menu item and thus invoke the radial menu.

While a mouse click is described as causing the invocation of a radialmenu, one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that differentselection inputs are possible to invoke the radial menu. For example,different cursor controllers can be used in some embodiments, such astouchpads, graphics tablet and stylus, etc. Different cursor controllerswill have different selection inputs (e.g., selection input from a mousemight be a click, double-click, right-click, etc., whereas selectioninput from a touchpad could be a tap, double-tap, two-finger tap, etc.).Furthermore, some embodiments display the radial menu on a touchscreen(e.g., a touchscreen of a handheld device) that does not display acursor at all. Instead, a user can select an item by tapping thetouchscreen at the location where the item is displayed.

Returning to FIG. 6, stages 630 and 640 illustrate the opening processof some embodiments for radial menu 600. As shown, in some embodiments,the radial menu opens, upon invocation, with the selectable menu itemsspiraling outwards from the location of the initial selectable item,which becomes the center of the radial menu item. Stage 630 illustratesthe radial menu 600 shortly after the selection of item 655. At thispoint, the number of menu items in the radial menu 600 (eleven items)can be discerned, but the content of most of the different items cannotbe.

Stage 630 also illustrates the order of the different items. The elevenitems are displayed as though they were all stacked underneath theinitial item 655. That is, moving around the circle of items clockwisefrom item 655, each item is displayed underneath the previous item. Ascan be seen from the following stages, this follows the order in whichthe items are eventually displayed around the menu. Some embodimentsalways display the same item as the top menu item in this stacked order(e.g., in the case where the item selected to invoke the menu is not oneof the items of the menu), whereas other embodiments display the menuitem that was selected to invoke the menu as the top menu item in theorder (e.g., in embodiments that display the most recently selected menuitem as the item to invoke the menu).

Stage 640 illustrates the radial menu 600 in the middle of its outwardexpansion opening process. At this point, the visual content of thedifferent menu items (i.e., the graphics of each icon) is discernible,as the items have spread far enough apart that the majority of each iconis visible. The items remain in their order from stage 630, bothproceeding clockwise around the circle and in the stacking, althoughsome of the items are far enough apart that the stacking aspect is nolonger noticeable.

Stage 640 also illustrates a “Cancel” item that has appeared underneaththe cursor in the location originally occupied by item 655. Someembodiments display such an option so that a user is not forced toselect one of the menu items in order to close the menu. This can beespecially useful in the case where the menu items represent variouscommands, rather than different tools which can be active or inactive.For instance, if the radial menu is part of an operating system, and theuser selects an item to invoke the “shut down” menu but then decidesthey do not want the computer to shut down, restart, hibernate, etc.,the user could select a cancel option in order to remove the full menufrom the GUI.

At stage 650, the radial menu 600 is fully opened. As can be seen, thevarious selectable menu items are not spread out evenly around thecentral location. Some embodiments display certain items further fromneighboring items and other items closer to neighboring items. In someembodiments, as will be described in greater detail below, a user canselect a particular item whenever the cursor is at an angle from thecenter location that is associated with the particular item, and theitems that are displayed further from their neighbors are associatedwith a larger set of angles and are thus easier to select.

Accordingly, some embodiments assign different priorities to the itemsand determine the distances between neighboring items based on thesepriorities. In some embodiments, the priorities are based on thefrequency of selection. That is, a menu item that is selected most oftenwill have the largest gaps between its neighboring menu items in theradial menu. As such, the appearance of a particular menu may change asthe different menu items are selected more or less often.

FIG. 7 conceptually illustrates a process 700 of some embodiments fordisplaying a radial menu with the selectable items arrangednon-uniformly around a central location in a GUI, such as menu 600 ofFIG. 6. As shown, process 700 begins by receiving (at 705) input todisplay a radial menu. This input can be the selection of a menu itemthat invokes a radial menu, as illustrated above in FIG. 6. In somecases, the input is keyboard input (i.e., a key or set of keys that auser presses to cause the radial menu to be displayed. The input couldalso simply be input to open an application that includes a permanentlydisplayed radial menu.

The process then determines (at 710) a relative priority for each menuitem. In some embodiments, the priority for each item indicates how muchspace it is given relative to other menu items in the displayed radialmenu. The priorities are integer values (e.g., 1, 4, 11, etc.) in someembodiments. In other embodiments, the menu items are assignedpriorities as percentages such that the priorities for all of the menuitems add up to one hundred percent. The percentages are based on thenumber of times the different menu items have been selected in someembodiments. As a simple example, if a particular menu with four menuitems has been opened 20 times and menu item A has been selected seventimes, menu item B twice, menu item C six times, and menu item D fivetimes, then menu item A would be assigned a priority of 35%, menu item Ba priority of 10%, menu item C a priority of 30%, and menu item D apriority of 25%. Some embodiments also have maximum and/or minimumpriorities such that rarely-selected items do not all end up on top ofeach other. Other embodiments allow a user to manually determine thepriorities (e.g., via an application setup window) or have thepriorities coded in by a software developer.

Process 700 next determines (at 715) an order for the menu items. Insome embodiments, this order is predetermined (e.g., by a user or by asoftware developer) and does not change. A user might not want the orderof the menu items to change, as users will often learn where regularlyselected menu items are found and can select these items without payingtoo much attention. However, in other embodiments, the order isdetermined based on the priorities. In some embodiments, the menu itemwith the highest priority (i.e., largest amount of allocated spacebetween neighboring items) is first in the order and then the two itemswith the next highest priority are on either side of this item, with thenext two items after that, and so on. This clusters the higher priorityitems to one side of the radial menu, as illustrated in FIG. 6.

Next, the process identifies (at 720) a central location in the GUI forthe radial menu. In some embodiments, this central location is thelocation of an initial single selectable item that is selected to invokethe opening of a radial menu, as in FIG. 6. However, in some such cases,this location is too close to the edge of a display area (e.g., window,display device, etc.) for the radial menu to be fully displayed withinthe display area. To rectify this, some embodiments resize the radialmenu when its regular size would be occluded by one or more edges.

Other embodiments address this situation by moving the central locationfor the radial menu to a different location in the GUI. Some embodimentsmove the central location directly away from the edge that is preventingfull display of the radial menu to a point that allows the radial menuto fit into the display area. In some embodiments, the radial menu ismoved so that it barely fits into the display area (i.e., so that itabuts or almost abuts the edge or edges that it moved away from). Someembodiments animate the movement of the radial menu away from one ormore edges that would obscure it, in order to make the appearance of theradial menu more interactive.

Such relocation of the radial menu is especially useful when the radialmenu is implemented on a small display device, e.g., a small handhelddevice. One such example of a small handheld device that uses the radialmenus of the invention will be described below by reference to FIG. 23.Also, given that a radial menu might take up a large segment of thescreen of a handheld device, some embodiments always display the radialmenu in the center of the handheld device's screen when the menu isinvoked. Thus, if there are multiple radial menus that are invoked byselection of different selectable items, they may all use the samecentral location in the GUI of the handheld device.

The movement, relocation and/or resizing operations that are describedabove are equally application to any situation when a radial menu orsub-menu is invoked. In other words, some embodiments move, relocateand/or resize a radial menu or sub-menu whenever the menu or sub-menu isinvoked near one or more display screen edges, which would occlude themenu or sub-menu if the menu or sub-menu was not resized, moved awayfrom the edge, or relocated to a particular location (e.g., center).Thus, some embodiments use the relocation and/or resizing operations formany of the processes described below (e.g., for the menu selectionprocesses described below by reference to FIGS. 9-20).

Process 700 then calculates (at 725) the angular distance between eachpair of menu items based on the priorities determined at 710 and theorder determined at 715. Some embodiments assign a particular angularregion of the radial menu to each menu item and center the menu item inthis angular region. FIG. 8 illustrates this using the example fromabove with four menu items. Menu item A (priority of 35%) would beassigned to an angular region of 126 degrees (from line 805 to 810),menu item B (priority of 10%) to an angular region of 36 degrees (fromline 810 to line 815), menu item C (priority of 30%) to an angularregion of 90 degrees (from line 815 to 820) and menu item D (priority of25%) to an angular region of 108 degrees (from line 820 to line 805.Locating these menu items in the center of their assigned angularregion, the distance from item A to item B is 81 degrees, the distancefrom item B to item C is 72 degrees, the distance from item C to item Dis 99 degrees, and the distance from item D to item A is 108 degrees.

Next, the process identifies (at 730) a location to display each of themenu items. In some embodiments, the locations are dependent on a radialdistance at which the menu items are located from the central locationof the menu. In some embodiments, this distance is determined eithermanually by a user or by a software developer that develops theapplication featuring the radial menu. Other embodiments vary thedistance based on the angular distances between the menu items. If someitems are very close together, then some embodiments use a larger radialdistance so that there will not be too much overlap between the items.

To determine the actual locations, a first location for a first item isset. Some embodiments fix the location of the first item in the orderdetermined at operation 715. For instance, the first item might alwaysbe located directly to the right of the central location, as is the casewith menu 600 of FIG. 6. Once one of the item locations is set, theother menu item locations can be determined by moving the appropriateangular distances (as determined at 725) around a circle with thedetermined radial distance for the menu.

With the display locations identified for all of the menu items, process700 displays (at 735) the radial menu with each of the items at theidentified location. As illustrated in FIG. 6, some embodiments displaythe menu by expanding the menu items outward from a central location.Other embodiments simply display the items immediately in the locationsdetermined at 730. Still other embodiments use animation other than thatshown in FIG. 6, such as displaying the menu items spiraling into place.

Once a radial menu is opened, a user may select an item from the radialmenu. Various aspects of displaying the menu and the selection of menuitems will be discussed in the following sections.

II. Display of Radial Menus during Selection Process

As described above, radial menus present a user with multiple selectableitems for the user to choose from. In some embodiments, a user canchoose a particular selectable item by moving a cursor to the angulararea of the radial menu allocated to the particular selectable item andproviding selection input (e.g., clicking a mouse button, pressing a keyon a keyboard, providing a particular form of input via a touchpad,etc.). Furthermore, in some embodiments, a user may select a menu itemby pressing down on a touchscreen within the angular area allocated tothe particular selectable item.

In some embodiments, a user need not click directly on a displayed menuitem in order to select that menu item. Instead, the displayed item, oricon, is associated with a larger selectable item. For instance, in someembodiments, each icon is associated with an angular area. Clickinganywhere within the angular area will select the menu item. In someembodiments, this selectable area is not only between the centrallocation of the menu and the icon, but extends out infinitely far fromthe center (or, to the edge of the display area in which the radial menuis displayed).

The display and selection of radial menus of some embodiments will nowbe described by reference to FIG. 9. FIG. 9 illustrates a state diagramthat reflects the various states and transitions between those statesfor a GUI that includes the radial menus of some embodiments. Thedisplay of the various states of the GUI and the transitions between thestates are performed by one or more processes in some embodiments. Thatis, they are performed by one or more processes running as part of theapplication in whose GUI the radial menus are displayed. Thisapplication can be an operating system, stand-alone application, etc. indifferent embodiments. The states and transitions will be described byreference to FIGS. 6 and 10-13, which illustrate various aspects of theradial menus of some embodiments.

As shown, a single selectable item is displayed (at 905) initially. Anexample of such an item is item 655 at stage 610 of FIG. 6. Whenselection input is received (e.g., a user clicking on the singleselectable item, as at stage 620 of FIG. 6), the GUI transitions tostate 910 and opens a radial menu. Opening the radial menu, in someembodiments, entails the expansion of the menu items outwards, as shownin stages 630 and 640 of FIG. 6. However, other embodiments simplydisplay the menu items of the radial menu in their locations when theradial menu is opened, without any animation.

Once the radial menu is open, the GUI transitions to state 915 tohighlight the menu cancellation button. Stage 650 of FIG. 6 illustratesradial menu 600 with cursor 615 over menu cancellation button 660. Inthe case where the menu cancellation button is at the center of theradial menu and this center is the initial location in the GUI of thesingle selectable item selected to invoke the radial menu, then upon theopening of the radial menu the cursor will be over the menu cancellationbutton, as is the case in stage 650. As noted above, the menucancellation button of some embodiments enables a user to close theradial menu without making a selection of one of the menu items.

When selection input is received while the menu cancellation button ishighlighted, the GUI transitions to state 920 to close the currentlyactive menu without a selection. That is, if the user selects the menucancellation button, the radial menu closes and none of the menu itemsare selected. When the currently active menu (that is, the menu beingclosed) is a primary menu (i.e., a radial menu that is not a sub-menu ofanother radial menu), the GUI transitions back to state 905 as thesingle selectable item (e.g., item 655 of FIG. 6) is displayed again.

On the other hand, when the currently active menu is a radial sub-menu,the GUI transitions to state 925 to make the previous menu (i.e., theparent menu of the closing sub-menu) the active menu. Further detailsregarding the selection and display of sub-menus are described below.The GUI then transitions to 930 to highlight the item in the parent menuthat is under the cursor. In some embodiments, as is described furtherbelow, a sub-menu is displayed as a radial menu with the centrallocation at the location of the item from the parent menu that openedthe sub-menu. As such, the cursor will be over this item from the parentmenu when the menu cancellation button is selected, and thus this itemis highlighted when the GUI transitions from state 925 to state 930. Thehighlighting of menu items will be discussed in further detail below.

When the GUI is at state 915, and the cursor is moved off of the menucancellation button to a menu item, the GUI transitions to state 930 andhighlights the menu item underneath the cursor. FIGS. 10 and 11illustrate radial menu 600 with the cursor 615 over two different menuitems. In FIG. 10, menu item 1005 is highlighted. Cursor 615 is notactually over the icon 1010 that represents menu item 1005, but is overthe angular region in the radial menu assigned to menu item 1005, andmenu item 1005 is accordingly highlighted.

In some embodiments, a menu item is highlighted as shown in FIG. 10. Thehighlight shown for menu item 1005 has the appearance of a lightemanating from the central location for the radial menu to illuminatethe icon 1010 and the area in which a user can click to select menu item1005. Other embodiments use other techniques to highlight a menu item.Some embodiments display the radial lines on either side of the menuitem that indicate the extent of the selectable item, or change thecolor of the area of the selectable item so that it is different fromthe background. Other embodiments only change the display of the iconrepresenting the menu item (e.g., by changing the color of the icon),rather than highlighting the entire selectable area.

As shown in FIG. 9, if the cursor is moved back over the menucancellation button from one of the menu items, then the GUI transitionsfrom state 930 back to 915. If the cursor is moved off of a first menuitem and over a second menu item, then the GUI remains at state 930 withthe second menu item highlighted. FIG. 11 illustrates the highlightingof item 1105. In order for the GUI to proceed from the state in FIG. 10to that of FIG. 11, a user would need to move the cursor 615 eitherthrough multiple selectable items that would each be highlighted for ashort period of time, through the menu cancellation button (i.e., atransition from state 930 to 915 and back to 930), or some combinationof the two.

In FIG. 11, cursor 615 is outside the display of the radial menu. Thatis, the cursor 615 is further from the center of the radial menu thanthe displayed icons. However, selectable item 1105 is neverthelesshighlighted. In some embodiments, the selectable items extend out to aninfinite radius, or at least to the edge of the display area (window,screen, etc.) for the GUI that includes the radial menu. Someembodiments extend the highlighting out past the displayed icon. As inthe example, other embodiments only highlight from the center to thedisplayed icon or a bit past the displayed icon.

Returning to FIG. 9, if selection input is received when the GUI is atstate 930, the GUI transitions to state 935 at which the highlightedmenu item is selected. Different types of input are accepted forselecting a menu item in different embodiments. Some embodiments enablegestural selection. A user moves the cursor in a quick sweeping motionaway from the center of the radial menu through one of the selectableitems. Based on the direction, speed, and distance of the cursor motion,the selectable item through which the cursor is moved is selected insome embodiments.

Some embodiments enable a user to select an item by using a cursorcontroller button or similar input with the cursor over the item eitherin addition to or instead of gestural selection. For instance, a usercan click (or double-click) a mouse button, tap (or double-tap) atouchpad, etc. to select an item. Similarly, in the case where theradial menu is presented on a touchscreen, a user can tap (ordouble-tap) the screen over a menu item in order to select the menuitem.

If the selected menu item opens a submenu, the GUI transitions to state940. In some embodiments, the sub-menu opening process is similar to theprimary menu opening process, in that the menu items expand outwardsfrom a central location. When the sub-menu is opened based on a mouseclick or similar input, the central location for the sub-menu is thecursor location where the selection input is received in someembodiments. In other embodiments, the central location is the displayedicon representing the selected menu item that caused the sub-menu toopen. Some such embodiments automatically move the cursor to thiscentral location when the sub-menu is opened.

FIG. 12 illustrates the opening of a sub-menu 1250 in response to aselection of a menu item 1205 from a primary menu 1200 according to someembodiments. FIG. 12 illustrates this process in three stages, a firststage 1210 at which the menu item is selected, a second stage 1220 atwhich the sub-menu is fully opened and the cursor is over a menucancellation button for the sub-menu, and a third stage 1230 at whichthe cursor is over one of the menu items of the sub-menu.

Stage 1210 illustrates primary menu 1200. Primary menu 1200 has numerousmenu items, including menu item 1205, which is presently highlightedbecause cursor 615 is over item 1205. Furthermore, stage 1210illustrates that a user has just clicked a cursor controller button withthe cursor over item 1205.

Selection of menu item 1205 causes a sub-menu 1250 to open, asillustrated in stage 1220. Stage 1220 illustrates the sub-menu 1250after the sub-menu has fully opened. The sub-menu opening process ofsome embodiments is similar to the primary menu opening processillustrated in FIG. 6, in that the icons representing the menu itemsexpand outwards from the center to their assigned locations.

Returning to the state diagram of FIG. 9, the GUI transitions from 940to 915, with the menu cancellation button of the recently opened submenunow highlighted. One of ordinary skill will recognize that thisrepresents the transition in the case that the sub-menu opens around thecursor, or in which the cursor is automatically moved to the center ofthe sub-menu. In the case where a user clicks somewhere in a selectableitem to open a sub-menu and the sub-menu opens around the icon for theselectable item and not around the cursor, some embodiments willtransition directly from state 940 to state 930 to highlight whicheveritem the cursor is over.

In this example, the user has clicked with the cursor 615 directly overthe icon 1225 representing menu item 1205, and thus the cursor is overthe menu cancellation button 1235 at stage 1220. As illustrated at stage1220, when the cursor is over the menu cancellation button of asub-menu, some embodiments display the parent menu as partially faded.This indicates to the user the menu that would become active ifselection input is received without overcomplicating the display in thearea of the sub-menu.

As illustrated in stage 1230, when the user moves the cursor off of themenu cancellation button and over a menu item 1245. This corresponds toa state transition from state 915 to 930, and as such menu item 1245 ishighlighted. As sub-menu 1250 includes only four evenly-spaced items,the highlighting extends significantly beyond the icon 1255 in theangular direction, occupying ninety degrees of the circle. Thehighlighting also extends significantly beyond the icon 1255 in theradial direction as well, as is the case in some embodiments.

Returning to the state diagram of FIG. 9, if the menu item selected doesnot open a sub-menu, the GUI transitions from state 935 to state 905such that only the initial single selectable item is displayed. Itemsthat do not open sub-menus may activate a tool (e.g., a media-editingtool, a word-processing tool, etc.), cause a command to be performed(e.g., a print command, a save command, etc.), or cause otherinstructions to be performed.

In closing the radial menu such that only the single selectable item isdisplayed, some embodiments display the icons collapsing inwards, theopposite animation as that displayed when the radial menu is opened.Other embodiments simply stop displaying the radial menu, and replacethe menu cancellation button with the single selectable item forinvoking the radial menu.

FIG. 13 illustrates the selection of an item from radial menu 600 andthe subsequent closing of the radial menu. FIG. 13 illustrates this inthree stages, a first stage 1310 at which a user selection of item 655from the radial menu is selected, a second stage 1320 during the closingprocess for the radial menu 600 and a third stage 1330 at which only thesingle selectable item 655 is displayed.

As noted, stage 1310 illustrates radial menu 600, which includes menuitem 655. Menu item 655 is highlighted in this stage because cursor 615is over the selectable item. This stage also indicates that selectioninput (e.g., a click of a mouse button) has just been received with thecursor in its present location over the highlighted selectable item. Inresponse to the selection of item 655, any instructions associated withthis item are performed.

In addition to the performance of instructions associated with theselected menu item, stage 1320 illustrates the radial menu 600 partwaythrough its closing process. Stage 1320 illustrates that the menu itemshave moved closer to the center of the menu, and they retain the“stacked” nature that is also illustrated in FIG. 6. Some embodiments,display the recently-selected item on the top of the stack, while otherembodiments designate a particular menu item at the top of the stack.Stage 1320 also illustrates that the menu cancellation button 660 hasmostly faded as the menu closes.

Stage 1330 illustrates the single selectable item 655 after radial menu600 has fully closed. At this point, the GUI has returned to the samestate as illustrated at stage 610 of FIG. 6, before the menu was opened(which corresponds to state 905 of the state diagram illustrated in FIG.9).

III. Gestural Selections and Sub-Menus

As noted above in the description of the state diagram, in addition to(or instead of) receiving click (via a mouse or other cursor controller)or tap (via a touchscreen) input in order to select a particular menuitem from a radial menu, some embodiments enable gestural selectioninput.

In some embodiments, the gestural selection input for selecting a radialmenu item is a sweep gesture. A sweep gesture is an outward movement ofthe cursor towards or through a selectable item in some embodiments. Thecursor movement is accompanied by other cursor controller or other inputas well in some embodiments. For instance, in some embodiments, a userholds down a mouse button (or equivalent input) while moving the mouseto perform a sweep gesture. Some such embodiments will not recognize asweep gesture unless the mouse button is held down or equivalent inputis received. On the other hand, some embodiments do not require anyinput other than the cursor movement to recognize a sweep gesture. Insome embodiments, a user provides an initial selection input (e.g., amouse click, a tap, etc.) in order to invoke a radial menu, and then thegestural input is only a mouse movement with no other associated input.

When the selected item causes a command to be performed or a tool to beactivated, the result is the same as if click input was used to selectthe item. However, when the selected item causes a sub-menu to open,different embodiments use different techniques to determine where thesub-menu should be opened. Some embodiments open the sub-menu around theselected menu item as though a user had just clicked on the menu item,then move the cursor from its location at the end of the sweep gestureto the center of the radial sub-menu. Some embodiments predict thelocation in the GUI at which the cursor will stop moving based on speed,direction, acceleration, statistics of past gestural selections, etc.and display the sub-menu at this location.

Other embodiments do not display the sub-menu after the sweep gestureuntil further input is received. Instead, these embodiments wait until auser provides further input (e.g., a mouse click) to display the radialsub-menu. When the user does provide the further input, the sub-menu isthen displayed around the cursor (i.e., the cursor is at the centrallocation of the radial sub-menu). Some embodiments initially display theradial sub-menu with its central location at either the location of theselected menu item or at the central location of its parent menu, thenmove the sub-menu to the cursor location when user input is received.

FIG. 14 illustrates a radial menu 1400 with four equally-spaced menuitems 1405-1420. FIG. 14 also illustrates dashed lines 1425 thatindicate the angular areas allocated to the four menu items 1405-1420,and a dashed line 1430 indicating a distance R from the center of theradial menu 1400 to the center of one of the items of the radial menu.

Some embodiments do not recognize all movements of the cursor after theopening of the radial menu. Instead, for a movement of the cursor to beidentified as gestural input, the cursor must move at least a particularthreshold distance in the GUI. For instance, some embodiments requirethat the cursor move at least the radial distance of the menu (e.g.,distance R represented by dashed line 1430 in FIG. 14). Thus, a cursorstarting at the central location of the menu would need to move to themiddle of a menu item if the user moved the cursor directly towards themenu item. Other embodiments use a different threshold (e.g., thedistance to the beginning or end of the menu item, a fraction ormultiple of the radial distance, etc.).

Furthermore, some embodiments also require that the cursor move thethreshold distance in a threshold amount of time for the movement to beidentified as a gestural selection. The slow movement of a cursor outtowards a radial menu item will not be treated as a gestural selection.

Movements that are not close to being a straight line will not berecognized as gestural selection as well, in some embodiments. As thecursor moves, some embodiments identify the location of the cursor atvery short intervals (e.g., many times per second). The location datacan be used to calculate the speed and direction of the cursor movementover time. Some embodiments require that these calculated directionvectors remain within a particular angular range for the movement to beconsidered a gestural selection input. That is, the minimum angle andmaximum angle at which the cursor is moving must vary by less than aparticular threshold angle (e.g., 5 degrees, 20 degrees, etc.).

On the other hand, rather than determine the angular variation, someembodiments identify the start and end points of the potential gesturalselection, then determine whether the cursor moved off of the straightline between the two points by more than a threshold amount. If thecursor moved too far off from this straight line, then the movement isnot a gestural selection. In some embodiments, the threshold distanceoff of the straight line varies based on the distance between the startand end point, such that longer movements can have larger absolutevariation (which may be an equivalent angular variation to a shortermovement with less absolute variation).

Some embodiments check for gestural selection input any time that thecursor has moved the threshold distance for a gesture. Once the cursormoves the threshold distance, the time taken to move the distance andwhether the movement is close to a straight line are determined. In suchembodiments, the actual gestural movement by the user may includenumerous segments that would qualify as gestures, and the selected itemis actually selected as soon as the first segment of the movement thatqualifies as gestural input is identified.

Once a gestural selection is identified, some embodiments then determinethe item selected by the gestural motion. In some embodiments, theselected item is the item through which the cursor passes when itreaches a particular distance from the center of the radial menu (e.g.,the radial distance R represented by line 1430 in FIG. 14).

FIG. 15 illustrates the radial menu 1400 and a gestural movement 1500 ofcursor 1505. FIG. 15 also illustrates a dashed circle 1510 thatindicates the radial distance of menu 1400. As shown, cursor 1505 startsat the center of the menu 1400 and moves more than the radial distanceR. The gestural movement 1500 crosses the radial distance (indicated bydashed line 1510) within the angular area assigned to menu item 1410. Assuch, some embodiments would select menu item 1410 based on this input.

Rather than determining the absolute locations of the cursor, someembodiments identify an angle for the gestural movement and associatethe angle with a menu item. In some embodiments, each item is associatedwith a range of angles that corresponds to the angular area occupied bythe item in the radial menu. For instance, item 1405 of menu 1400 isassociated with 135 degrees off the horizontal to 45 degrees off thehorizontal, item 1410 is associated with 45 degrees off the horizontalto −45 degrees off the horizontal, etc. (i.e., the quadrants representedby the dashed lines 1425). In this description, the horizontal refers tothe vector running from the center of the radial menu to the center ofitem 1410, typically associated with an angle of zero.

When the gestural movement starts at the center of the radial menu,either technique for identifying the menu item selected by the gesturewill yield the same result. The gestural movement 1500 of FIG. 15 is anexample of this. The angle of the movement 1500 is approximately 20degrees below the horizontal, an angle associated with item 1410. Asnoted above, using the technique of identifying where the cursor crossesthe radial distance also results in the selection of item 1410.

However, when the gestural movement does not begin at the center of theradial menu, the two techniques may yield different selections. FIG. 16illustrates an example of such a gestural movement 1600. Cursor 1505moves from location 1605 to location 1610, a long enough distance to beconsidered a gestural selection input. Based on where the cursor crossesthe radial distance indicated by dashed line 1510, some embodimentswould select item 1405. However, the angle of gestural movement 1610 isassociated with item 1420, as it is approximately 150 degrees off thehorizontal and the quadrant associated with item 1420 is from 135degrees off the horizontal to −135 degrees off the horizontal.

As mentioned above, in some cases the selected item opens a sub-menu.Some embodiments, after receiving gestural input to open the sub-menu,either do not display the sub-menu or display the sub-menu in a defaultlocation until the user provides further input. FIG. 17 conceptuallyillustrates a process 1700 of some embodiments for displaying radialmenus and sub-menus and receiving selections from the menus. FIG. 17will be described by reference to FIGS. 18-20.

As shown, process 1700 begins by displaying (at 1705) a radial menu. Insome embodiments, the radial menu is displayed as a result of a userinvoking the radial menu (e.g., through the selection of a single itemas illustrated in FIG. 6, above). That is, in some embodiments a userhas clicked, tapped, etc. on an item such as item 655 in order to beginthe operation of process 1700.

Next, process 1700 receives (at 1710) gestural input to select a menuitem. As described above, the gestural input is a sweep gesture in someembodiments that may or may not be accompanied by other input such as amouse click, a press-and-hold of a mouse button, etc. The gestural inputmay select an item based on an angle of the cursor movement, where thecursor crosses a particular distance from the center of the menu, orother criteria.

FIG. 18 illustrates the opening of a radial menu 1800 due to a clickinput and a subsequent sweep gesture to select a menu item 1835. FIG. 18illustrates this in three stages, a first stage 1810 at which point theuser is opening the radial menu, and second and third stages 1820 and1830 during which the cursor is moving in the sweep gesture.

Stage 1810 illustrates a single selectable menu item 1840. Cursor 1815is presently over the single selectable menu item 1840 and a user haspressed-and-released a selection button on a cursor controller (asindicated by the “(Click . . . )” text). This causes the invocation andopening of radial menu 1800. Stage 1820 illustrates part of radial menu1800 after the menu has opened and the user has begun moving the cursor1815 towards menu item 1835 in a sweep gesture in order to select menuitem 1835 via gestural selection. In some embodiments, the radial menuopens as illustrated in FIG. 6, with the menu items expanding outwards.In some such embodiments, when a user is selecting an item via gesturalselection, the user need not wait for the menu to fully open beforebeginning the sweep gesture. That is, stage 1820 could be the verymoment when the menu items have arrived at their fully open locations,while the cursor 1815 has been moving along with the menu items due touser interaction.

As shown in FIG. 18, some embodiments highlight the menu item underneaththe cursor as the gestural selection is made. In the case where the userbegins the sweep gesture before the radial menu is fully open, someembodiments highlight the menu item before the fully open state, whileother embodiments do not display a highlight until the menu items are nolonger moving. In the case where the user does not begin the sweepgesture in the center of the menu (e.g., the case illustrated in FIG.16), some embodiments always highlight the menu item underneath thecursor. Other embodiments recognize a sweep gesture after a particularamount of cursor movement, and highlight the menu item selectable basedon the angle of the cursor movement.

Stage 1830 of FIG. 18 illustrates that the user has continued moving thecursor, in approximately the same direction, past the radial distance ofthe menu 1800 at which menu item 1835 is displayed, to select item 1835via gestural input.

Returning to process 1700, after receiving the gestural input to selecta menu item, the process determines (at 1715) whether the selected itemopens a sub-menu. As is the case with menu item 1835, the menu items ofsome embodiments include visual indicators if they open a sub-menu. Item1835 includes arrows pointing up and down, but other visual indicatorsare possible (e.g., a plus sign, a single arrow, a number indicating thenumber of menu items in the sub-menu, etc.). When the selected menu itemdoes not open a sub-menu, the process performs (at 1720) instructionsassociated with the selected menu item, then ends. These instructionsmay perform a command (e.g., print a file, etc.) or activate a tool(e.g., a drawing tool, editing tool, etc.).

When the selected menu item does open a sub-menu, the process displays(at 1725) a sub-menu indicator around the cursor. In some embodiments,this is an indicator that clicking will cause a display of the sub-menuaround the cursor. FIG. 19 illustrates the result of the gesturalselection of menu item 1835 from radial menu 1800 and the initialdisplay of radial sub-menu 1900, via two stages 1910 and 1920. As shown,in addition to displaying the sub-menu indicator around the cursor, someembodiments open the radial sub-menu initially at a default locationwhile waiting for user input to move the sub-menu. Some embodimentsinitially display the radial sub-menu around the selected item from theparent menu.

Other embodiments initially display the radial sub-menu with the samecentral location as the parent menu. This is the case illustrated inFIG. 19. Stage 1910 illustrates the GUI shortly after the gesturalselection input has been recognized to select item 1835. Radial sub-menu1900 is partially open at this stage, while parent menu 1800 ispartially closed. Some embodiments do not close the parent menu bycollapsing the items inwards, but rather the menu either fades or issimply removed from the display. Stage 1910 also illustrates sub-menuindicator 1925 around cursor 1815. Sub-menu indicator 1925 includes thetext “Drag anywhere”, indicating to the user that the cursor may bemoved anywhere. Stage 1920 illustrates radial menu 1900 after it hasfully expanded and the parent menu 1800 has fully closed.

Process 1700 next waits for input to display the sub-menu around thecursor. The process determines (at 1730) whether input has been receivedto display the sub-menu around the cursor. In some embodiments, this isa click input or the equivalent. That is, the sub-menu indicator isdisplayed around the cursor until a user presses and releases a mousebutton, taps a touchpad, etc. When no such input is received, theprocess determines (at 1735) whether to cancel the sub-menu display. Forinstance, some embodiments include a timer, and if no input is receivedafter a threshold time (e.g., five seconds) then the menu is canceledand a user must re-invoke the menu in order to select a menu item. Someembodiments also allow keystrokes from a user to cancel a menu, or aparticular input from a cursor controller.

When the process receives input to display the sub-menu around thecursor (e.g., a mouse click), the process identifies (at 1740) thecursor location and then displays (at 1745) the radial sub-menu aroundthe cursor. The process then returns to 1710 such that a menu item fromthe sub-menu can be selected via gestural input. FIG. 20 illustrates theresult of user input to move the radial sub-menu 1900 to the cursorlocation and the subsequent gestural selection of a menu item 2055 fromthe sub-menu. This is illustrated in three stages, 2010-2030. Stage 2010illustrates the radial sub-menu 1900 centered at a location 2040, andthe cursor 1815 with sub-menu indicator 1925 at location 2045.

Stage 2020 illustrates the GUI after click input (or an equivalent) hasbeen received and the radial sub-menu 1900 has moved from location 2040to location 2045, where cursor 1815 is now located without sub-menuindicator 1925. Some embodiments remove the display of the sub-menu atthe default location (e.g., location 2040) and immediately display it atthe cursor location (e.g., location 2045). Other embodiments, however,animate the movement of the sub-menu from the default location to thecursor location. Single selectable item 1840 is now displayed atlocation 2040, which is the same location at which it was displayedinitially in FIG. 18. In some embodiments, the sub-menu is essentiallydisplayed on top of the single item after the parent menu has closedunderneath the single item. Stage 2030 illustrates the gesturalselection of a menu item 2055, as the user moves the cursor to theright.

As mentioned above by reference to FIG. 7, some embodiments resize,move, or relocate menus and sub-menus when they are invoked too close tothe edge of the display screen. Accordingly, like the process 700 ofFIG. 7, the process 1700 of FIG. 17 in some embodiments determines thelocation of a menu or sub-menu by first identifying an initial locationfor positioning the menu or sub-menu, and then determining whether theinitial location would cause some of the menu or sub-menu to beoff-screen. When the initial location would have some of the menu orsub-menu off-screen, the process 1700 in these embodiments resizes,moves, and/or relocates menus and sub-menus to ensure that it appearscompletely on the display screen.

One of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that the above process1700 is an example of one possible process performed by some embodimentsto receive gestural selections from sub-menus. Process 1700 is notnecessarily the only example of how computer instructions can displaysuch a menu and translate input for the menu, and some embodimentsperform variations of process 1700. For instance, some embodiments,after displaying a radial sub-menu around the cursor, can receive clickinput in addition to gestural input in order to select a menu item, orcould receive click input to select a menu cancellation button.Furthermore, the operations of process 1700 may, in some embodiments, beperformed by multiple processes. For instance, multiple differentprocesses may be involved in the performance of operation 1710 in orderto recognize gestural input and associate the input with a menu item. Inaddition, once a radial sub-menu is displayed, a completely separateprocess may be used to translate input regarding the sub-menu.

IV. Uses of Menus

As discussed, the various radial menus described above can be used in awide variety of computing applications. The menus can be used directlyin an operating system or in an application separate from the operatingsystem in some embodiments. Furthermore, the menus can be especiallyuseful in handheld devices such as the iPhone®.

FIG. 21 illustrates a computer desktop 2100 displaying various featuresof an operating system of some embodiments. The desktop includes a filefolder navigation window 2105, application selection icons 2110, andradial menu 2115. The file folder navigation window 2105 is a standardwindow that enables a user to navigate a hierarchical file system inorder to find and open a file (e.g., a word processing document, aspreadsheet, a video file, etc.). The application selection icons 2110provide easy access for a user to the different applications (e.g.,e-mail, web browsers, media players, word processing applications,media-editing applications, etc.) on the computing device.

Radial menu 2115 is one example of the use of the menus described abovefor providing operating system features. Radial menu 2115 presentsvarious options related to shutting off the computer. Radial menu 2115includes a menu cancellation button 2120 and four menu items 2125-2140.Item 2125 presents a “Shut Down” option, item 2130 presents a “Restart”option, item 2135 presents a “Log Off” option, and item 2140 presents a“Standby” option. Some embodiments also include other options such ashibernating.

The menu items 2125-2140 are evenly spaced around the radial menu.However, some embodiments assign higher priorities, and thus a largerangular range, to some of the menu items. For instance, many users willuse the “Shut Down” option more often than the other items, and thus itwould have a larger angular range.

In some embodiments, radial menu 2115 is not permanently displayed aspart of the desktop. Instead, a single selectable item (e.g., menu item2125) is normally displayed in the desktop 2100 and a user can invokethe radial menu by selecting the single menu item. Other items (e.g.,windows such as window 2105) may be placed on top of the singleselectable item if a user wishes to make use of the screen real estatewhere the item is located.

One of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that the radial menus ofsome embodiments may be used for a wide variety of operating systemfeatures. As an example, the application selection icons could beintegrated into a menu such as radial menu 2115 or one of the othermenus described above. For instance, the application selection iconscould be provided in a radial menu that is displayed in one corner ofthe screen rather than taking up the entire bottom portion of thescreen. Similarly, the file system could be implemented as a set ofradial menus and sub-menus representing folders and sub-folders.

FIG. 22 illustrates a video-editing application 2200 that is used tocreate composite video presentations and that utilizes the menus of someembodiments. Video-editing application 2200 includes a composite displayarea 2205, a set of selectable video clips 2210, video preview displayarea 2215, and a video-editing radial menu 2220.

The composite display area 2205 provides a visual representation of thevideo presentation that the user creates. Users can add media clips(e.g., audio and video clips) to the composite display area, where theclips are graphically represented. A user can modify the videopresentation by performing editing operations on the clips in thecomposite display area. The set of selectable video clips 2210 providesvarious media clips, represented as thumbnails, that the user can selectand add to the video presentation via the composite display area 2205.The video preview display area 2215 displays a preview of the compositepresentation according to the composite display area.

The video-editing radial menu 2220 is an example of the use of the menusdescribed above for providing video-editing tools. Specifically, radialmenu 2220 provides the user with multiple trimming tool options. Radialmenu 2220 includes slip tool 2225, roll tool 2230, slide tool 2235, andripple tool 2240. Some embodiments present radial menus with more ofless video-editing tools (e.g., tools other than trimming tools). Someembodiments include multiple different radial menus that a user caninvoke in different ways.

The video-editing radial menu 2220 is not permanently displayed over thecomposite display area in some embodiments. Rather, a user invokes theradial menu when they want to perform a trim edit. In some embodiments,the menu is invoked via a keyboard shortcut. Some embodiments respond toclick input when the cursor is over the composite display area bydisplaying the radial menu. The order or priority of the menu items maybe determined by which trim tool the user is most likely to choose basedon where the cursor is located relative to the edit points of the videoclips in the composite display area.

FIG. 23 illustrates a handheld device 2300 that is presently displayinga web browser 2305. Device 2300 could be a cell phone, a media player,etc. Web browser 2305 includes a uniform resource locator (URL) toolbar2310, a content display area 2315, a toolbar 2320, and a radial menu2360.

The URL bar 2310 includes user interface tools and an address bar 2325in which a user can type a URL and which displays a URL of a website towhich a user has navigated by clicking on links within content displayarea 2315. Content display area 2315 displays the web page located atthe URL indicated in address bar 2325.

Toolbar 2320 includes five tools—back and forward buttons 2330 and 2335,an add bookmark icon 2340, a bookmarks icon 2345 for opening a list ofbookmarks, and a page gallery icon 2355 for displaying a list of openweb pages for the user to choose from.

Radial menu 2360 presents various options that are not permanentlydisplayed in URL bar 2310 or toolbar 2320. Radial menu 2360 includes afind text option 2365 for bringing up a tool that allows a user to typein text to find in the content displayed in display area 2315, a historyoption 2370 for allowing a user to view their browsing history, a newwindow option 2375 for opening a new browsing window and a copy option2380 for copying text.

In some embodiments, the device is a touchscreen device. A user caninvoke the menu by a tap, double-tap, or other multi-touch input in thedisplay area 2315 in some embodiments. In order to select one of theradial menu items, a user can tap the menu item or perform a swipegesture in the direction of the menu item (i.e., the touchscreenequivalent to a sweep gesture).

One of ordinary skill will recognize that radial menus other than menu2360 are possible for use in a handheld device browser. For instance,the toolbar 2320 could be presented as an invocable radial with fiveitems. Furthermore, such menus are not restricted in any way tobrowsers, and in fact could be used for any application on a handhelddevice. Screen space is often at a premium in handheld devices such asdevice 2300, so the menus described in this application are an idealsolution for providing numerous options in this limited space.

V. Software Architecture

In some embodiments, the processes described above are implemented assoftware running on a particular machine, such as a computer or ahandheld device, or stored in a computer readable medium. FIG. 24conceptually illustrates the software architecture of an application2400 of some embodiments for presenting menus such as those described inthe preceding sections. In some embodiments, the application is astand-alone application or is integrated into another application (forinstance, application 2400 might be a portion of a video-editingapplication, software for a handheld device, etc.), while in otherembodiments the application might be implemented within an operatingsystem. Furthermore, in some embodiments, the application is provided aspart of a server-based solution. In some such embodiments, theapplication is provided via a thin client. That is, the application runson a server while a user interacts with the application via a separatemachine remote from the server. In other such embodiments, theapplication is provided via a thick client. That is, the application isdistributed from the server to the client machine and runs on the clientmachine.

Application 2400 includes a user interface (UI) interaction module 2405,an item selector 2410, a gesture recognition module 2415, a highlightgenerator 2420, a priority calculation module 2425, and a menu displaymodule 2430. The media-editing application also includes menu database2435. In some embodiments, other storages are present as well, which maybe part of the same physical storage as menu database 2435 or storedseparately. FIG. 24 also illustrates an operating system 2450 thatincludes cursor controller driver 2455, keyboard driver 2460, anddisplay module 2465. In some embodiments, as illustrated, the cursorcontroller driver 2455, keyboard driver 2460, and display module 2465are part of the operating system 2450 even when the application 2400 isan application or part of an application separate from the operatingsystem.

A user interacts with the user interface via input devices (not shown).The input devices, such as cursor controllers (mouse, tablet, touchpad,etc.) and keyboards, send signals to the cursor controller driver 2455and keyboard driver 2460, which translate those signals into user inputdata that is provided to the UI interaction module 2405.

The present application describes a graphical user interface thatprovides users with numerous ways to perform different sets ofoperations and functionalities. In some embodiments, these operationsand functionalities are performed based on different commands that arereceived from users through different input devices (e.g., keyboard,trackpad, touchpad, mouse, etc). For example, the present applicationdescribes the use of a cursor in the graphical user interface to control(e.g., select, move) objects in the graphical user interface. However,in some embodiments, objects in the graphical user interface can also becontrolled or manipulated through other controls, such as touch control.In some embodiments, touch control is implemented through an inputdevice that can detect the presence and location of touch on a displayof the device. An example of such a device is a touch screen device. Insome embodiments, with touch control, a user can directly manipulateobjects by interacting with the graphical user interface that isdisplayed on the display of the touch screen device. For instance, auser can select a particular object in the graphical user interface bysimply touching that particular object on the display of the touchscreen device. As such, when touch control is utilized, a cursor may noteven be displayed for enabling selection of an object of a graphicaluser interface in some embodiments. However, when a cursor is providedin a graphical user interface, touch control can be used to control thecursor in some embodiments.

The UI interaction module interprets the user input data in the contextof the presented radial menus and passes it to the appropriate modules,such as the item selector 2410, gesture recognition module 2415, andhighlight generator 2420.

The item selector 2410 interprets user interface interactions into theselection of radial menu items. When the radial menu is opened via theselection of a single selectable item, this selection is handled by theitem selector 2410 as well. The item selector receives information fromthe menu database 2435, such as which items are in a radial menu that isto be opened, where the items are located, the angular regionsassociated with the items, etc. The item selector also receives gestureinformation from the gesture recognition module 2415 when a gesturalselection is identified. Information regarding the selection of menuitems and any associated information from the menu database 2435 is thenpassed to the menu display module for interpretation and output. In someembodiments, the item selector 2410 also recognizes selection input formoving a radial sub-menu to a cursor location, as described in SectionIII above.

The gesture recognition module 2415 interprets user interfaceinteraction information that is received from the UI interaction module2405 to determine whether cursor input is a gestural selection. Thegesture recognition module 2415 performs calculations on cursor positiondata over time to determine whether the cursor is moving fast andstraight enough for a gestural selection and if so, the angle andlocation of the gesture. This gesture information (angle, cursorlocation, etc.) is passed to the item selector 2410 so that the itemselector can identify the menu item selected by the gesture.

The highlight generator 2420 generates a highlight for a radial menuitem based on the cursor location. In some embodiments, the highlightgenerator identifies a cursor location based on information receivedfrom the UI interaction module 2405, associates that with a particularmenu item, and generates the highlight for the entire range of anglesassociated with the particular menu item. This information is thenpassed to the menu display module 2430 so that the highlight can bedisplayed.

The priority calculation module 2425 calculates the different prioritiesfor the various menu items that are part of the radial menus in the menudatabase 2435. In some embodiments, the menu database keeps track of thefrequency of selection for the various menu items (in other embodiments,this information is stored in a separate storage). This frequency ofselection information is used by the priority calculation module of someembodiments to determine the priorities for the various menu items. Thepriority calculation module, in some embodiments, also calculates theangular ranges for the various menu items in the menu database 2435.Some embodiments calculate this information on a regular basis, or aftera selection of a menu item is made. Other embodiments calculate thisinformation whenever a radial menu is invoked.

The menu display module 2430 receives information from the item selector2410 and the highlight generator 2420. The menu display module 2430controls the display of the menu items. In some embodiments, the menudisplay module handles the opening and closing of the menus in responseto item selection, including any submenus. This information is sent todisplay module 2465, which handles the actual display of the menus (andthe rest of the graphical user interface) on an output device (notshown).

While many of the features have been described as being performed by onemodule (e.g., the item selector 2410 or gesture recognition module2415), one of ordinary skill would recognize that the functions might besplit up into multiple modules, and the performance of one feature mighteven require multiple modules. Similarly, multiple features that aredescribed as being performed by multiple modules might in fact beperformed by a single module. In some embodiments, each module is a setof processes.

FIG. 25 conceptually illustrates a process 2500 of some embodiments formanufacturing an application (e.g., a video-editing application, anoperating system, etc.). As shown, process 2500 begins by defining (at2505) menu items and instructions associated with the menu items. Theprocess then defines (at 2510) icons for representing the menu items ina radial menu. The menu items and associated icons of menu 600illustrated in FIG. 6 are examples of such items.

Next, process 2500 defines (at 2515) a module for determining prioritiesof the menu item, such as the priority calculation module 2425 ofapplication 2400. The process defines (at 2520) a module for selecting amenu item in response to user input. Item selector 2410 is an example ofsuch a module. The process next defines (at 2525) a module forrecognizing gestural selections based on user input, such as the gesturerecognition module 2415.

Process 2500 then defines (at 2530) a module for highlighting a radialmenu item when the cursor is over the menu item, such as highlightgenerator 2420. Next, the process defines (at 2535) other items, tools,and functionalities. For instance, if the application being defined isan operating system, the process defines the various functionalitiesnecessary for the operating system. When the application being definedis a media-editing application, various editing tools, GUI constructs,etc. are defined.

Process 2500 next stores (at 2540) the defined application on a computerreadable storage medium. The computer readable storage medium may be adisk (e.g., CD, DVD, hard disk, etc.) or a solid-state storage device(e.g., flash memory) in some embodiments. One of ordinary skill in theart will recognize that the various modules and UI items defined byprocess 2500 are not exhaustive of the modules and UI items that couldbe defined and stored on a computer readable storage medium for anediting application incorporating some embodiments of the invention.

VI. Computer System

Many of the above-described features and applications are implemented assoftware processes that are specified as a set of instructions recordedon a computer readable storage medium (also referred to as computerreadable medium). When these instructions are executed by one or morecomputational element(s) (such as processors or other computationalelements like ASICs and FPGAS), they cause the computational element(s)to perform the actions indicated in the instructions. Computer is meantin its broadest sense, and can include any electronic device with aprocessor. Examples of computer readable media include, but are notlimited to, CD-ROMs, flash drives, RAM chips, hard drives, EPROMs, etc.The computer readable media does not include carrier waves andelectronic signals passing wirelessly or over wired connections.

In this specification, the term “software” is meant to include firmwareresiding in read-only memory or applications stored in magnetic storagewhich can be read into memory for processing by a processor. Also, insome embodiments, multiple software inventions can be implemented assub-parts of a larger program while remaining distinct softwareinventions. In some embodiments, multiple software inventions can alsobe implemented as separate programs. Finally, any combination ofseparate programs that together implement a software invention describedhere is within the scope of the invention. In some embodiments, thesoftware programs when installed to operate on one or more computersystems define one or more specific machine implementations that executeand perform the operations of the software programs.

FIG. 26 conceptually illustrates a computer system with which someembodiments of the invention are implemented. Such a computer systemincludes various types of computer readable media and interfaces forvarious other types of computer readable media. Computer system 2600includes a bus 2605, a processor 2610, a graphics processing unit (GPU)2620, a system memory 2625, a read-only memory 2630, a permanent storagedevice 2635, input devices 2640, and output devices 2645.

The bus 2605 collectively represents all system, peripheral, and chipsetbuses that communicatively connect the numerous internal devices of thecomputer system 2600. For instance, the bus 2605 communicativelyconnects the processor 2610 with the read-only memory 2630, the GPU2620, the system memory 2625, and the permanent storage device 2635.

From these various memory units, the processor 2610 retrievesinstructions to execute and data to process in order to execute theprocesses of the invention. In some embodiments, the processor comprisesa Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), an ASIC, or various otherelectronic components for executing instructions. In some embodiments,the processor Some instructions are passed to and executed by the GPU2620. The GPU 2620 can offload various computations or complement theimage processing provided by the processor 2610. In some embodiments,such functionality can be provided using CoreImage's kernel shadinglanguage.

The read-only-memory (ROM) 2630 stores static data and instructions thatare needed by the processor 2610 and other modules of the computersystem. The permanent storage device 2635, on the other hand, is aread-and-write memory device. This device is a non-volatile memory unitthat stores instructions and data even when the computer system 2600 isoff. Some embodiments of the invention use a mass-storage device (suchas a magnetic or optical disk and its corresponding disk drive) as thepermanent storage device 2635.

Other embodiments use a removable storage device (such as a floppy disk,flash drive, or ZIP® disk, and its corresponding disk drive) as thepermanent storage device. Like the permanent storage device 2635, thesystem memory 2625 is a read-and-write memory device. However, unlikestorage device 2635, the system memory is a volatile read-and-writememory, such a random access memory. The system memory stores some ofthe instructions and data that the processor needs at runtime. In someembodiments, the invention's processes are stored in the system memory2625, the permanent storage device 2635, and/or the read-only memory2630. For example, the various memory units include instructions forprocessing multimedia items in accordance with some embodiments. Fromthese various memory units, the processor 2610 retrieves instructions toexecute and data to process in order to execute the processes of someembodiments.

The bus 2605 also connects to the input and output devices 2640 and2645. The input devices enable the user to communicate information andselect commands to the computer system. The input devices 2640 includealphanumeric keyboards and pointing devices (also called “cursor controldevices”). The output devices 2645 display images generated by thecomputer system. For instance, these devices display a GUI. The outputdevices include printers and display devices, such as cathode ray tubes(CRT) or liquid crystal displays (LCD).

Finally, as shown in FIG. 26, bus 2605 also couples computer 2600 to anetwork 2665 through a network adapter (not shown). In this manner, thecomputer can be a part of a network of computers (such as a local areanetwork (“LAN”), a wide area network (“WAN”), or an Intranet, or anetwork of networks, such as the internet For example, the computer 2600may be coupled to a web server (network 2665) so that a web browserexecuting on the computer 2600 can interact with the web server as auser interacts with a GUI that operates in the web browser.

Any or all components of computer system 2600 may be used in conjunctionwith the invention. For instance, in some embodiments the execution ofthe frames of the rendering is performed by the GPU 2620 instead of theprocessor 2610. Similarly, other image editing functions can beoffloaded to the GPU 2620 where they are executed before the results arepassed back into memory or the processor 2610. However, a commonlimitation of the GPU 2620 is the number of instructions that the GPU2620 is able to store and process at any given time. Therefore, someembodiments adapt instructions for implementing processes so that theseprocesses fit onto the instruction buffer of the GPU 2620 for executionlocally on the GPU 2620. Additionally, some GPUs 2620 do not containsufficient processing resources to execute the processes of someembodiments and therefore the processor 2610 executes the instructions.One of ordinary skill in the art would appreciate that any other systemconfiguration may also be used in conjunction with the presentinvention.

Some embodiments include electronic components, such as microprocessors,storage and memory that store computer program instructions in amachine-readable or computer-readable medium (alternatively referred toas computer-readable storage media, machine-readable media, ormachine-readable storage media). Some examples of such computer-readablemedia include RAM, ROM, read-only compact discs (CD-ROM), recordablecompact discs (CD-R), rewritable compact discs (CD-RW), read-onlydigital versatile discs (e.g., DVD-ROM, dual-layer DVD-ROM), a varietyof recordable/rewritable DVDs (e.g., DVD-RAM, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, etc.),flash memory (e.g., SD cards, mini-SD cards, micro-SD cards, etc.),magnetic and/or solid state hard drives, read-only and recordableblu-ray discs, ultra density optical discs, any other optical ormagnetic media, and floppy disks. The computer-readable media may storea computer program that is executable by at least one processor andincludes sets of instructions for performing various operations.Examples of hardware devices configured to store and execute sets ofinstructions include, but are not limited to application specificintegrated circuits (ASICs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGA),programmable logic devices (PLDs), ROM, and RAM devices. Examples ofcomputer programs or computer code include machine code, such as isproduced by a compiler, and files including higher-level code that areexecuted by a computer, an electronic component, or a microprocessorusing an interpreter.

As used in this specification and any claims of this application, theterms “computer”, “server”, “processor”, and “memory” all refer toelectronic or other technological devices. These terms exclude people orgroups of people. For the purposes of the specification, the termsdisplay or displaying means displaying on an electronic device. As usedin this specification and any claims of this application, the terms“computer readable medium” and “computer readable media” are entirelyrestricted to tangible, physical objects that store information in aform that is readable by a computer. These terms exclude any wirelesssignals, wired download signals, and any other ephemeral signals.However, some embodiments are implemented as instructions that areimplemented as software processes that are specified as a set ofinstructions sent over a signal carrying medium (e.g., wireless signals,wired download signals, etc.).

While the invention has been described with reference to numerousspecific details, one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize thatthe invention can be embodied in other specific forms without departingfrom the spirit of the invention. Thus, one of ordinary skill in the artwould understand that the invention is not to be limited by theforegoing illustrative details, but rather is to be defined by theappended claims.

I claim:
 1. A method comprising: providing a plurality of selectablemenu items, each menu item having a particular priority; and providing aradial menu for receiving selections of the selectable menu items, themenu items for display in the radial menu as a series of separate iconsarranged in a particular order at a particular distance from a centrallocation, wherein angular distances between the displayed icons and theparticular order of the displayed icons are based on the priorities;wherein a change to the particular priority of at least one menu itemcauses a change to the particular order in which the icons aredisplayed.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the plurality ofselectable menu items comprises providing the priority of a particularmenu item as based on a frequency with which the particular menu item isselected.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the plurality ofselectable menu items comprises providing the priorities of theselectable menu items as based on frequencies with which the menu itemsare selected relative to one another.
 4. The method of claim 1, whereinproviding the plurality of selectable menu items comprises providing thepriority of a particular menu item as based on an expected frequencywith which the menu item will be selected.
 5. The method of claim 1,wherein each particular icon of the series of separate icons is assigneda particular range of angles in the radial menu based on the particularicon's priority.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein when a first icon hasa first priority and a second icon has a second priority larger than thefirst priority, the first icon is assigned a smaller range of anglesthan the second icon.
 7. The method of claim 5, wherein each particularicon is for display in the center of the particular range of anglesassigned to the particular icon.
 8. The method of claim 7 furthercomprising providing a module for assigning (i) a first range of anglesto a first icon and (ii) a second range of angles to a second icon thatneighbors the first icon in the radial menu, wherein the angulardistance between the first and second icons in the radial menu is thesum of half of the first range of angles and half of the second range ofangles.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein when a first icon has a firstpriority and a second icon has a second priority larger than the firstpriority, the angular distance between the first icon and the firsticon's neighboring icons in the radial menu is smaller than the angulardistance between the second icon and the second icon's neighboringicons.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein the radial menu is for displayin an operating system.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein the radialmenu is for display in an application that runs on top of an operatingsystem.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the application is amedia-editing application and the selectable menu items are selectablemedia-editing tools.
 13. A method comprising: defining a plurality ofselectable menu items, each menu item having a particular priority; anddefining a radial menu for receiving selections of the selectable menuitems, the menu items for display in the radial menu as a series ofseparate icons arranged in a particular order at a particular distancefrom a central location, wherein angular distances between the displayedicons and the particular order of the displayed icons are based on thepriorities, wherein the radial menu is for display on a handheld device,wherein the menu items are selectable via touch input on a touchscreenof the handheld device.
 14. The method of claim 13, wherein eachparticular icon of the series of separate icons is assigned a particularrange of angles in the radial menu based on the particular icon'spriority.
 15. The method of claim 14, wherein when a first icon has afirst priority and a second icon has a second priority larger than thefirst priority, the first icon is assigned a smaller range of anglesthan the second icon.
 16. The method of claim 13, wherein defining theplurality of selectable menu items comprises defining the priority of aparticular menu item as based on a frequency with which the particularmenu item is selected.
 17. A computer readable medium storing a computerprogram which, when executed by at least one processor presents a set ofselectable icons, the computer program comprising sets of instructionsfor: displaying a radial menu as a plurality of selectable iconsarranged radially about a center location; identifying a locationspecified by a user input; associating the identified location with aparticular icon; and displaying a highlight emanating from a center ofthe radial menu and extending beyond the particular icon, in order toindicate a selectable area for the particular icon.
 18. The computerreadable medium of claim 17, wherein the selectable area comprises arange of angles associated with the particular icon.
 19. The computerreadable medium of claim 18, wherein the selectable area extends to aninfinite radial distance.
 20. The computer readable medium of claim 17further comprising sets of instructions for: receiving an input at theidentified location for the particular icon; and selecting theparticular icon.
 21. The computer readable medium of claim 17 furthercomprising sets of instructions for: moving a user input to a newlocation; identifying the new location; associating the new locationwith a second icon from the plurality of selectable icons; anddisplaying a highlight emanating from a center of the radial menuindicating a selectable area for the second icon.
 22. The computerreadable medium of claim 17, wherein the computer program is anoperating system.
 23. The computer readable medium of claim 17, whereinthe computer program is an application that runs on an operating system.24. A computer readable medium storing a computer program which whenexecuted by at least one processor presents a set of selectable icons,the computer program comprising sets of instructions for: displaying aradial menu as a plurality of selectable icons arranged radially about acenter location; identifying a location specified by a user input;associating the identified location with a particular icon; anddisplaying a highlight emanating from a center of the radial menuindicating a selectable area for the particular icon, wherein theselectable area for the particular icon is larger than the particularicon.
 25. The computer readable medium of claim 24, wherein theselectable area comprises a range of angles associated with theparticular icon.
 26. The computer readable medium of claim 24, whereinthe selectable area is confined to a maximum radial distance.
 27. Acomputer readable medium storing a computer program which when executedby at least one processor presents a set of selectable icons, thecomputer program comprising sets of instructions for: displaying aradial menu as a plurality of selectable icons arranged radially about acenter location; identifying a location specified by a user input;associating the identified location with a particular icon; anddisplaying a highlight emanating from a center of the radial menu, atleast partially intersecting the center of the radial menu, andextending beyond the particular icon, in order to indicate a selectablearea for the particular icon, wherein the selectable area is confined toa maximum radial distance.
 28. The computer readable medium of claim 27,wherein the selectable area for the particular icon is larger than theparticular icon.
 29. The computer readable medium of claim 27, whereinthe computer program further comprises sets of instructions for:receiving, before displaying the plurality of selectable icons, arequest to open the radial menu; and displaying an animation of theicons opening from a central location.
 30. A computer readable mediumstoring a computer program which when executed by at least one processorpresents a set of selectable icons, the computer program comprising setsof instructions for: receiving a request to open a radial menu;displaying an animation of the radial menu opening from a centrallocation, said radial menu displayed as a plurality of selectable iconsarranged radially about the central location; identifying a locationspecified by a user input; associating the identified location with aparticular icon; and displaying a highlight emanating from the centrallocation of the radial menu to indicate a selectable area for theparticular icon.
 31. The computer readable medium of claim 30 furthercomprising sets of instructions for: moving a user input to a newlocation; identifying the new location; associating the new locationwith a second icon from the plurality of selectable icons; anddisplaying a highlight emanating from a center of the radial menuindicating a selectable area for the second icon.
 32. The computerreadable medium of claim 30, wherein the particular icon is presentlyselectable when a user input is located over the selectable area of theparticular icon.
 33. The method of claim 1, wherein the change to theparticular priority of a particular menu item is based on a frequencywith which the particular menu item is selected.
 34. The method of claim1, wherein the change to the particular priority of a particular menuitem is based on a frequency with which the particular menu item isselected relative to other menu items.
 35. A computer readable mediumstoring a computer program for execution by at least one processor, thecomputer program comprising sets of instructions for: displaying, at afirst location in a display area, a radial menu comprising a set of menuitems arranged radially about a central location; receiving a gesturalselection of a particular menu item for opening a radial sub-menu; afterthe gestural selection, receiving, separate from the gestural selection,input for identifying a second location within the display area; anddisplaying the radial sub-menu as a set of items arranged radially aboutthe identified second location.
 36. The computer readable medium ofclaim 35, wherein the gestural selection comprises a rapid movement of auser input at a particular angle.
 37. The computer readable medium ofclaim 36, wherein the particular angle is associated with the particularmenu item.
 38. The computer readable medium of claim 35, wherein theinput is a selection of a cursor controller or a touch input on atouchscreen.
 39. The computer readable medium of claim 35 furthercomprising sets of instructions for, after receiving the gesturalselection, but before receiving the input, displaying the radialsub-menu about the central location of the radial menu.
 40. The computerreadable medium of claim 39, wherein the set of instructions fordisplaying the radial sub-menu about the identified second locationcomprises a set of instructions for displaying an animation of theradial menu from the central location of the radial menu to theidentified second location.
 41. A computer readable storage mediumstoring a computer program for execution by at least one processor, thecomputer program comprising a graphical user interface (GUI), the GUIcomprising: a display area; and a radial menu comprising a plurality ofselectable menu items, each menu item having a particular priority, theradial menu for (i) display in the display area and (ii) receivingselections of the selectable menu items, wherein the menu items are fordisplay in the radial menu as a series of distinct icons arranged in aparticular order, at a particular distance from a central location,wherein angular distances between the displayed icons and the particularorder of the displayed icons are based on the priorities.
 42. Thecomputer readable storage medium of claim 41, wherein the GUI furthercomprises a highlight emanating from the central location, the highlightfor indicating a selectable area for a particular menu item when theparticular menu item is presently selectable.
 43. The computer readablestorage medium of claim 42, wherein the particular menu item ispresently selectable when a user input is located over the selectablearea of the particular menu item.
 44. The computer readable storagemedium of claim 41, wherein the radial menu is for receiving gesturalselections, and a particular menu item is for opening a sub-menu; andthe GUI further comprising a radial sub-menu for display about a userinput after a user selects the particular menu item via a gesturalselection.